By Nahed al Husaini, VT Damascus
They say a photograph is worth lots of words? Thousands? The Assad family was out to dinner in Damascus – nothing unusual there. They drove themselves with no security, not that unusual either.
The hat? That’s due to chemotherapy for breast cancer, not an attempt to upstage Trump’s Slovenian princess. You don’t want to compare the Assads and Trumps.
Assad, an MD with a specialty in Ophthalmology, gave up his London practice in 1994 with the death of his brother and entered the Syria Army Officer Training Academy. He had already served 4 years in the army as a physician. He was now destined to eventually command that same army.
President Assad is the only national leader in the world…we are assuming, we haven’t done a full survey, that can drive himself around, even into war zones.
Some say he is foolhardy, but the truth is simple, he may well be the most popular elected leader in the world today. I’ve sat in a hotel lobby with VT staffers Bassam Barakat and Gordon Duff while President Assad walked in alone for a meeting in the coffee shop.
Well, Nixon would head out to Carvel for ice cream from time to time, or so the secret service tell us. Bill Clinton had his cheeseburger habit, but we suspect its the Secret Service that brings Trump his nightly bag of Big Macs, thank goodness for liposuction.
This week, President Bashar Al Assad and his wife and elder son Hafez visited Oregano Restaurant in Damascus unexpectedly.
Assad with his wife and son are in the photo with the restaurant manager.
The restaurant manager thanked President Assad for choosing his humble restaurant and said,
“Very glad to receive you Mr. President with your family. Your unexpected presence, along with your family, created an ambiance of warmth, love and happiness.”
Assad and his family had a quiet dinner at the restaurant; and normally they visit public places in different provinces.
On the War Against Turkish Terrorism in Idlib
Why should we heed to a dog barking?
Human rights activists are fed by the US and its satellites
This what our Russian source says from Moscow about accusing Russian and Syrian airforces of attacking civilians in Edlib, and his comment on UN human rights ORGS reports on Syria.
“I do not see anything strange in your question. This topic is old and constant. All the so-called human rights activists are fed from the hands of the United States and its satellites. What else can you expect from such “human rights activists” ???
These dogs bark incessantly and the same. Why waste time and energy on every dog barking ???
Syria and Russia are predetermined as terrorists and aggressors guilty of all misfortunes. This opinion is bought and paid too generously. We still will not be heard and will not be believed.
Nahed is VT Damascus Bureau Chief. She is a member of the American Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies (USA) and serves as Assistant Director of the Arab-American and Muslim Congress (Detroit, USA). She has a Diploma in English Literature from Damascus University (1987).
She’s also been a reporter for Turkish newspaper Aydinlik, Special Coordinator for Arab-Armenian International Law Assembly, Correspondent for Qatari News Agency, Al Ayam news Paper in Bahrain, Al Liwaa in Lebanon, Correspondent for Petra News Agency in Jordan, correspondent for the Associated Press in USA, and worked as a freelance journalist for CBS, ABS and CNN in Syria. She is fluent in both English and Arabic.
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Swedish government ministers used to go without security until Anna Lindh was stabbed to death in a department store.
Assad may be safe from fellow Syrians, but what about Mossadniks and IDF commandos?
Who is to decide who is a “Rat”
Geo Bush and The Palestinian Jews have been responsible for more deaths than all the Middle east dictators combined/.
The Israeli Jews you mean?
Let’s not be too hard on rats. These maligned animals have made many contributions to medical research. For example the late Otto H. Warburg, M.D., Ph.D. in Germany used them in his first studies on cancer causation in the 1920’s, where when he reduced the oxygen pressure on living cells by about one third, the cells switched from running on oxygen to running on sugar anerobically or fermentation just like the lowest living forms on Earth before the appearance of Oxygen. The transformation took place quickly in a matter of hours or days. Warburg was nominated for the first Cancer Nobel Prize for this work in 1926 but it was unfortunately given to Fibiger for work later discovered to be wrong. It took Warburg another 40 or so years to prove his results for humans but it has been obstructed by the prejudiced bigots in the NCI and NIH and FDA. Shame on them. Warburg was awarded the 1931 Nobel Prize and nominated again in 1944 for yet different work but denied by Hitler’s decree. He died in 1970.
Otto H. Warburg, M.D., Ph.D. was considered the greatest biochemist of the 20th century. Three of his pupils also earned shared Nobel Prizes: Otto Meyerhoff, Hans Krebs and Hugo Theorell. Warburg published over 500 scientific papers and books during his fabulous career and life.
Well Done Nana, you bring a humanity to President Assad, different from the propaganda image of him generated by the USA. As always we wish peace to Syria and all of it’s people.
Mike Harris
I hope Mrs. Assad recovers and her cancer goes into remission. Great article. Keep posting Nahed.
what a wonderful article this was. Not having met Assad personally I admire his tenacity during the last few years to be able to continue. He has had to endure constant threats to his safety and his family. I was quite surprised to see he does impromptu visits without a security detail. I have seen his interviews he does for western media and to me he comes across as a fair and intelligent human being with a genuine heart of compassion for the suffering of his people. It is also good to see his approval rating is in the high 80’s, a rating that western leaders could never ever hope of reaching.
I have met Syrians here in Glen Burnie that profess to not like Assad. Maybe they were just covering their ass. He seems better than most. But could he solve the rat problem here in Baltimore? Probably. Anyway he has worked as hard as any politician in history and defended humanity. Should be Times Man of the Year.
Duff has the correct idea on rodent control with the Bench Rest Cat, Concealed Carry Cat, Tactical Cat, etc.
Gordon, thank you for being you, thank you for sharing your experience with me when you were in Damascus. Thank you for being fair to Syria and the Syrian people. You are a man of honor and you have special respect in my country.
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